Evelyn - 7 Months

My sweet Evelyn Grace is 7 months, crazy. She loves her sister, and definitely recognizes Josh and I; She has started to reach for us :) 

She is rolling both ways and scooting around, not properly crawling, but getting to the toys she wants. 

We have been having a hard time getting her to eat babyfood. She will eat something for a few days and then throw up. She has thrown up 3 times since Mothers Day :(

First boat ride - in KY with Aunt Lauren; she wasn't a huge fan but I got good snuggles! 

First time in a large pool - loved it! 

Blurry but you can still see her cuteness

Fighting the photo shoot.

Still rockin' her blue eyes. 

Potty Training 2.0 - Day One PM

Ella woke up at 3:15, we don't normally get her up until 3:45, but I went in to check in her in the off chance she was wanting to use the potty. She just wanted to cuddle, so we read for a bit but V woke up, so everyone downstairs at 3:30. 

3:30 - took off her pull up "bed panties"....DRY!!!! So we hopped in the potty. PEE!!! A refill on juice and then off to watch 30 mins of Tinkerbell (she usually only watches TV in car and 30 minutes after her nap, so she was expecting this.) 

[I only set the dry panty check for 30 minutes because I wanted to refresh her memory and also that's as long as we watch TV so it's a good transition].

Then this sweetness happened. Oh goodness gracious! Evie is so lucky to have Ella as a big sister. 

4:10 - DRY!!! She chose to go outside (obviously)

4:50 - josh gets home

4:53 - first accident :( changed her panties and started our 10 practice runs to get to the potty (on practice runs 5 & 8 she actually went; we have treats on those runs but made her continue her runs). 

5:15 - I restarted the clock because she wasn't going to have dry panties. [45 minutes] we went back outside. 

5:23 - accident #2; start our practice runs. (On run 1 she peed, but this time I made her wait until the runs were over to eat the treats.)

5:35 - reset the timer for 45 minutes

5:41 - tried to pee

6:14 - PEE!!!!

6:20 - DRY!!!! She chose "Bo cheese" (feta cheese) - it was in the middle of dinner and I didn't really want to introduce toys

6:50 - tried to pee

7:05 - DRY!!!! She chose a brain quest. 

7:23 - accident #3 while playing inside. 10 practice runs. 

[set the timer only to 20 minutes because  it's evident we need to get more reminders]

7:45 - tried to pee

7:47 - DRY!!!! She chose counting bears (Thanks BA!)

8:03 - PEE!!!

8:04 - Switched in her pull up "bed panties" and upstairs for bed. 

My goals today were: 

- no tears -- CHECK 

- no poop on my floor -- CHECK

- my hope was only 3 accidents - 2 pee and one poop. We had 3 pee and no poop accident or success, so I guess that's a -- CHECK 

Potty Training 2.0 - Day One AM

So we are at it again. Hopefully this time it sticks. Last time (in October 2014; just shy of 22 months) she just didn't get it - and personally I do think it's a lots of responsibility for a little kid. 

For about a month she has been going on the potty at various times throughout the day; and everyday she goes, just not every time. (She gets two jelly beans when she goes on the potty). She doesn't currently poop on the potty. 

So my challenges this time are (1) Evie -- basically taking care of her without losing focus on Ella and (2) shifting Ella to understand that the goal is dry panties; not just peeing on the potty. 

Today's goals:

(1) no tears; from either of us

(2) no poop on my floors

The supplies:

Elmo panties. I have 4 with the same design, I could see her being interested in seeing all the panty designs and therefore having accidents on purpose. 

After she had one fluke poop on the tiny princess potty a few months back, I decided I really don't want to clean poop 

out of that thing, so we let her pick out a potty seat insert and step stool, she chose princess! 

Since she is currently getting two jelly beans for peeing on the potty, I wanted to change as little as possible, so I'm sticking with that - but needed something for dry panties. And since that's the main goal, I wanted it to be awesome. I implemented a sticker chart for dry panty checks and then put together a basket of things/toys she hasn't seen before. (Mostly stuff I bought for school next year). If she has dry panties at our checks she gets to pick out one item. (Only one at a time, at each check she puts her current item back and gets new one). 

I used the doll above to help. I asked E to help me potty train her today, so we started the day by taking her to the bathroom and explaining that she needs to keep her panties dry and tell E if she has to go potty, etc. 

I started dry panty checks at 15 minute intervals. 

7:15 - changed last diaper (I've hidden all diapers, wipes, etc.) (she was stinky, so that was in my favor not to have poop on my floor.)

7:30 - had her help me with dolly. She was very excited the doll had undies like her. 

7:54 -  At the first check both she and the dolly had dry panties -- stickers and toys for each. Ella chose colorful large buttons in various shapes. 

8:02 - tried on potty for 1 second

8:09 - DRY!!! Dolly was wet so she didn't get a sticker or toy and had to change undies. She then had to practice getting up on potty ten times. (Ella was sad for the doll that she lost her toy duck).

8:25 - DRY!!!! Ella picked letter flash cards

8:40 - DRY!!!! She chose freeze dried fruit

[increased checks to 20 mins]

8:50 - PEE!!!

9 - DRY!!! She chose freeze dried fruit 

9:20 - DRY!!! She chose orange play dough

9:25 - PEE!!!!

9:40 - DRY!!! She chose a purple marker character playing guitar.

[increase checks to 25 mins]

9:50 - tried to pee

10:04 - tried

10:06 - DRY!!!! She chose a princess "painting" book

[V is napping, so I've intentionally stopped asking about potty because this is the best time to have accident, and I know accidents are necessary in this process.]

10:20 - refill on juice (daddy's yellow Gatorade.) I used the bathroom which prompted her to go. 

10:22 - PEE!!!

10:30 - PEE!!!!

10:32 - DRY!!!! She chose watching a show; Tinkerbell on a blanket. 

10:51- PEE!!!! (I did remind her this time because I knew she would get caught up in the show). 

11:03 - DRY!!! She chose fruit snacks and to continue watching Tink (I needed an emotional break still so I pushed this option!) 

11:15 - PEE!!!! 

11:35 - DRY!!!! She chose freeze dried fruit

[increase checks to 40 minutes]

**all tries and successes will be totally unprompted from me from here forward**

11:45 - tried potty

12:08 - lunch

12:09 - PEE!!!! 

12:15 - DRY!!!! (For the first time, she thought to check me...her evaluation "Maybe". She decided dolly, Ella, and Mommy deserved stickers. 

[increase checks to 45 minutes]

12:22 - tried

12:29 - tried

12:34 - tried

12:38 - tried

(Obviously a lunch stall tactic -- yippee)

(Since I know you are going to ask, Mom,  V isn't wearing her helmet because she threw up in bed last night and I haven't been able to get the smell out of the Velcro)

1:00 - DRY!!! She chose the buttons again. 

1:30 - DRY!!! I gave her 5 M&Ms for staying dry all morning. (And she couldn't pick anything from the basket because PRAISE THE LORD it's nap time.)

1:35 - PEE!!!! 

I put her in a pull up for nap, because I know her and she already tries to get out of her room at nap time so I knew this would be too much. And I need a break!  I'll deal with that another day! 

1:49 - In bed!!!!! 

House is clean, diet coke and chocolate for mom, then a nap! 

Allergy Testing

Ella had her follow up appointments for her allergy testing earlier in June. This appointment was to give us a 2nd data point on her already-confirmed egg and peanut allergies.

We did the bloodwork prior to our appointment with the allergist. Ella has a trooper, even after they had to stick her in both arms...she wanted a pink doughnut as her rewards, so a pink doughnut she got!

Waiting to go see the doctor:

 Tinkerbell sticker as her reward:

 Loving her doughnut:

 She eats the frosting off first...smart girl.

Then we had to go back and meet with the allergist and have a follow up scratch test. Ella did GREAT! She only cried a little during the scratch test, then the challenging part came - keeping a toddler from scratching her arm.

Through her blood and her scratch test, she appears to be clear of her egg allergy - Egg challenge scheduled for September. Although her blood results looked good for her peanut allergy, her scratch test was dramatically worse than last year; leading the allergist to predict her allergy will only continue. So, off to the pharmacist to get an updated epi pen.

Strawberry Festival

We had a wonderful day yesterday as a family; it was our 6th anniversary and we are so blessed with all the Lord has provided.

About to pick strawberries; an obvious first for Evie, a 2nd for Ella, and a first for Josh and I together. 

Ella was surprisingly gentle pulling the berries off. Maybe, just maybe, me saying "Gentle, Ella." a million times since November 20th as paid off...

Driving the giant wooden Monster Truck:

(She is actually exactly 3 feet tall)

A little comic relief for you....it's very challenging to get a picture of an infant in a carrier, yourself and a 2-year old in one of those scenes!